Social and Cultural Aspects
In Europe and the world, the consumption patterns of alcoholic beverages as well as the expectations about the effects of alcohol are strongly influenced by cultural factors. The vast majority of people who drink wine, do so in moderation. This is the reason why reducing the overall amount of alcohol a society consumes does not necessarily reduce the drinking problems in this society. Thus, it is important to consider cultural and social factors when developing alcohol policies.
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BACKGROUND: Changing trends demonstrate that women, in a number of economically-developed countries, are drinking at higher levels than ever before. Exploring key targets for intervention, this study examined the extent to which underlying beliefs in relation to alcohol consumption predicted intentions to drink in three different ways (i.e. low risk drinking, frequent drinking and binge drinking). METHODS: Utilizing a prospective design survey, women (N = 1069), aged 18-87 years, completed a questionnaire measuring their beliefs and intentions regarding alcohol consumption. Then, two weeks later, 845 of the original sample, completed a follow-up questionnaire reporting their engagement in the drinking behaviors. A mixed design ANOVA was conducted to examine potential differences between women of different age groups (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54,…
A substantial economics literature documents that tighter alcohol controls reduce alcohol-related harms, but far less is known about mechanisms. We use the universe of Canadian mortality records to document that Canada's Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) significantly reduces mortality rates of young men but has much smaller effects on women. Using drinking data that are far more detailed than in prior work, we document that the MLDA substantially reduces 'extreme' drinking among men but not women. Our results suggest that alcohol control efforts targeting young adults should focus on reducing extreme drinking behavior.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The alcohol industry produces 'responsible drinking' advertising campaigns. There is concern that these may promote drinking while persuading governments and the general public that the industry is acting responsibly. This paper examined young people's thoughts and feelings in response to one of these campaigns in Australia. DESIGN: A qualitative analysis of introspection data provided by young drinkers after exposure to a responsible drinking advertisement produced by DrinkWise called 'How to Drink Properly'. SETTING: Perth, Western Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-eight 18-21-year-old drinkers. MEASUREMENTS: The qualitative data were imported into NVivo10 and coded according to the various stages of advertising effects frameworks. A thematic analysis approach was used to identify patterns in the data relating to (i) perceptions of the…
OBJECTIVES: Research has demonstrated that packaging which includes pictorial health warnings are more effective in altering smokers' perceptions and intentions as well as changing smoking behaviours compared to text-only health warnings. However, very few studies have investigated the effectiveness of health warnings on alcoholic beverages. METHODS: Participants (N = 60) viewed alcoholic beverages presenting one of three health warnings (No health warning, Text-only, Pictorial) and then responded to questions relating to level of fear arousal and their perceptions toward alcohol use. RESULTS: We found that pictorial health warnings were associated with significantly higher fear arousal, increased perceptions of the health risks of consuming alcohol as well as greater intentions to reduce and quit alcohol consumption compared to the control. CONCLUSIONS:…
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Internet alcohol marketing is not well studied despite its prevalence and potential accessibility and attractiveness to youth. The objective was to examine longitudinal associations between self-reported engagement with Internet alcohol marketing and alcohol use transitions in youth. METHODS: A US sample of 2012 youths aged 15 to 20 was surveyed in 2011. An Internet alcohol marketing receptivity score was developed, based on number of positive responses to seeing alcohol advertising on the Internet, visiting alcohol brand Web sites, being an online alcohol brand fan, and cued recall of alcohol brand home page images. We assessed the association between baseline marketing receptivity and both ever drinking and binge drinking (>/=6 drinks per occasion) at 1-year follow-up with multiple…